Nanotechnology in the public eye: the case of Iran,as a developing country

Using survey data, public awareness of and attitudes toward nanotechnology are examined in Iran (N = 759). Iran is a developing country with a national nanotechnology action plan for a ten year period starting from 2003 and has been active in the field of research and development of nanotechnology meanwhile. First, the results show that majority of people are still not familiar with nanotechnology and perceived risks posed by this technology are not considered to be a lot and most people feel its benefits outweigh the risks. The emotions toward this technology are of a hopeful and positive nature and this technology is looked upon favorably in Iran. In particular, our results reveals that although the level of trust is high specially in scientists to communicate the risks with the public, there are a great number who just have some trust not quite a lot of it. Knowing that it is a hard and time-consuming effort to manage a nation’s view on nanotechnology, extensive research as well as collaboration with other countries is needed to effectively communicate the risks in time.     

Thermodynamic Study of the Extraction of Inorganic Mercury Compounds in Fish Species of the International Anzali Wetland,Iran

Inorganic mercury concentration was measured in the muscle tissues of four types of fish in the aquatic international Anzali Wetland ecosystem in Guilan. In the same ecosystem, the northern pike is able to concentrate inorganic mercury in its body more than other fish. In each species, a fish with the highest amount of inorganic mercury was selected for determination of thermodynamic parameters of inorganic mercury extraction using calculation of the equilibrium constant and fitting of ln K_c versus inverse temperature at the atmospheric pressure. The origins of thermodynamic parameters were discussed. The extraction processes were done in the range of temperatures from 331.15 to 365.15 K and at atmospheric pressure. Results show that the extraction of mercury compounds from SH groups of sulfhydryl proteins in fish muscle tissue is an endothermic process with a positive value for entropy and Gibbs free energy changes at room temperature.     

Combination of Dispersive Liquid‐Liquid Microextraction with Flame Atomic Absorption for Determination of Trace Ni and Co in Water Samples and Vitamin B12

A dispersive liquid‐liquid microextraction method based on the dispersion of 1,2‐dichlorobenzene as an extraction solvent into an aqueous phase in the presence of ethanol as a dispersive solvent for the preconcentration of Co²⁺ and Ni²⁺ ions is discussed. 1‐Nitroso 2‐naphtol was used as a chelating agent prior to the extraction and the preconcentrated analyte was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The effect of various experimental parameters including the extraction and dispersive solvent type and volume, pH, amount of the chelating agent, etc. on the microextraction and complex formation was investigated for finding the optimum conditions. The enhancement factors were about 61.9 and 51.8, the calibration graphs were linear in the range of 10‐150 μgL^?1 and 10‐250 μgL^?1 with detection limits of 2.42 μgL^?1 and 1.59 μgL^?1, and RSD (n = 5) of 3.08% and 2.17% for cobalt and nickel, respectively. The method was successfully applied to the determination of Co and Ni in water and vitamin B₁₂.     

Microwave‐Assisted Catalyst Free Three Component Synthesis of Mono and Bis Spiro Pyrazolopyridines in Solvent Free Reaction

Multicomponent synthesis of mono and bis‐spiro pyrazolopyridines from isatin derivatives, indanedione, and 3‐methyl‐5‐aminopyrazole under microwave irradiation in the absence of any catalyst or solvent with high yield and short reaction time is reported.     

Genetic diversity and haplotype structure of 21 Y‐STRs,including nine noncore loci,in South Tunisian Population: Forensic relevance

Y chromosome STRs (Y‐STRs) are being used frequently in forensic laboratories. Previous studies of Y‐STR polymorphisms in different groups of the Tunisian population identified low levels of diversity and discrimination capacity (DC) using various commercial marker sets. This definitely limits the use of such systems for Y‐STRs genotyping in Tunisia. In our investigation on South Tunisia, 200 unrelated males were typed for the 12 conventional Y‐STRs included in the PowerPlex® Y System. Additional set of nine noncore Y‐STRs including DYS446, DYS456, DYS458, DYS388, DYS444, DYS445, DYS449, DYS710, and DYS464 markers were genotyped and evaluated for their potential in improving DC. Allele frequency, gene diversity, haplotype diversity (HD), and DC calculation revealed that DYS464 was the most diverse marker followed by DYS710 and DYS449 markers. The standard panel of 12 Y‐STRs (DC = 80.5%) and the nine markers were combined to obtain DC of 99%. Among the 198 different haplotypes observed, 196 haplotypes were unique (HD = 99.999). Out of the nine noncore set, six Y‐STRs (DYS458, DYS456, DYS449, DYS710, DYS444, and DYS464) had the greatest impact on enhancing DC. Our data provided putative Y‐STRs combination to be used for genetic and forensic applications.     

On the theta completions for maximal subalgebras

Let L be a finite dimensional Lie algebra. Then for a maximal subalgebra M of L, a 𝜃-completion for M is a subalgebra C of L such that CM and M_L?C and C∕M_L contains no non-zero ideal of L∕M_L, properly. And a 𝜃-completion C of M is said to be a strong 𝜃-completion, if C = L or there exists a subalgebra B of L such that C be maximal in B and B is not a 𝜃-completion for M. These are analogous to the concepts of 𝜃-completion and strong 𝜃-completion of a maximal subgroup of a finite group. Now, we consider the influence of these concepts on the structure of a finite dimensional Lie algebra.     

Ab initio spectroscopic study for the NaRb molecule in ground and excited states

A wide adiabatic study is performed for NaRb molecule, involving 15¹Σ⁺ electronic states including the ionic state Na^?Rb⁺, as well as 14³Σ⁺, 1–9^1,3Π, and 1–5^1,3Δ states. This investigation is performed using an ab initio approach which involves the effective core potential, the core polarization potential with l‐dependent cut‐off functions. The NaRb system has been treated as a two‐electron system and the full valence configuration interaction is easily achieved. The spectroscopic constants R_e, D_e, T_e, ω_e, ω_ex_e, B_e, and D₀ for all these states are derived. We have also computed the vibrational levels as well their spacing for different values of J. In addition, permanent and transition dipole moments are determined and analyzed. The Dunham coefficients have been used to perform experimental spacing to compare directly with our results. The present calculations on NaRb extend previous theoretical works to numerous electronic excited states in the various symmetries. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.